


T is for Tummy, and also Tickle

by Legaldanish



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, M/M, mentioning tickling, relationships, tickling mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 15:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5502338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legaldanish/pseuds/Legaldanish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel has a very informative lecture which leads to developing a light psychology experiment on Dean, which then leads to an endearing discovery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	T is for Tummy, and also Tickle

**Author's Note:**

> There is no tickling in this. Just a giant conversation and mentions of it. Tickling will be in the next chapter. I'm planning this story to be 3 parts. Have fun.

“Dean?” Castiel came into their apartment and performed his ritual of setting his backpack down, taking off his shoes, and locating Dean. He had just come back from his Anatomy and Physiology lab, and he had learned something new about humans: “Okay, so here’s how this works: there are four quadrants that you can divide your stomach area into. If this…” The professor pointed to the right-upper part of his belly. “Is the right upper quadrant, or the RUQ, then what is right below it?” 

“The right-lower quadrant?” Someone replied from the back of the lab

“Yes! Good. Okay and on the other side is the left-upper quadrant and then the left-lower quadrant. You can abbreviate them on your practical, but just know what you’re abbreviating. Is anyone confused? No? Alright.” He put his curled index finger to his chin, thinking for just a second. 

“Okay, so here’s how you can use this -hypothetically in real life. Let’s say you have really excruciating abdominal pain, like you just have a ruptured spleen. What is waaaaaay easier to tell the doctor? That you have pain ‘like below my nipple area, but to the side a bit, but also near my ribs.’ Or, ‘it’s in my upper-left quadrant?”

Everyone including Cas agreed that obviously the second explanation was better. 

“See, so that’s a way easier way to tell your doctor that you have pain in your tummy area.”

Maybe it was just Cas, but he swore that when his professor used the word “tummy,” everyone in the lab got a little happier at the cute word.  
“Dean?” Cas called again to the apartment. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

“Hi Cas I’m in the room, hold on.” Dean walked out, a bit groggy. Sleep still on his face. He had very clearly recently woken up from only within the last 20ish minutes from a nap. 

“Hello Dean. Did you take a nap? My professor let us out a bit early, so I decided to just come home. Why is it so dark in here?” Dean walked over to turn on the living room light while Cas hung up his keys.

“Oh that was nice of him. He run out of stuff to tell you? And yeah, my stomach wasn’t feeling too well, ate a bad burger probably, I decided to sleep it off ya know? Cat-nap.” 

Castiel looked straight at Dean, absorbing what he just said. Just as the living room lit up, Cas decided he was going to try the word-experiment on Dean, see if he has a reaction to cutesy words.  
“Oh, well I’m sorry that your tummy hurt earlier. Is it feeling better now?” 

Dean cocked his head ever so slightly to the side. Barely noticeable, except to Cas. He grinned a little and his eyes had lit up when he heard that word.  
“Yes actually.” He was absolutely smiling inside. “It feels a lot better.”

“Good to hear. Let’s watch T.V.”

The two sat on the couch and the next few days were peppered with Cas’s curiosity for this word. He used “tummy” in any conversation he could. He was pretty subtle. Never overusing it. He was trying to get Dean to maybe use the word, but he really wanted to see how Dean reacted to the use of "tummy" in just casual conversation. 

“Hey Dean, I’m going to the store for some groceries. I am going to buy cereal. Is there any brand you would prefer that isn’t going to, uh…’upset’ your tummy?” 

Every time this word left Cas’s mouth Dean noticeably perked up, and seemed to go through a monologue in his head probably resembling:

“Yes! It is my tummy! That’s definitely what I have! That’s what it’s called! :D.” 

All that came out as an answer for Cas however was just “Nah, just get our usual.” 

Cas came back from the store with cereal, and some other foodstuffs. He had a bonus item too. A t-shirt which was a nice army green v-neck for Dean. 

“Hey I got you this shirt, will you go try it on while I put everything away?” 

“Sure you don’t want help?”

“No Dean, I got it. I want to see if the color looks as good as I thought it would.”

“Alright then, can’t argue with that.” He took the shirt and pulled it over his head while Cas put away to two bags of grocery items. 

Dean came back and gestured to the shirt and winked. “Like whatcha see?”

“Yes I do. It’s a good length. It doesn’t leave your tummy hanging out or anything.”

“There was that word again,” Dean thought to himself. 

“Yanno Cas, you’ve been using that word a lot recently.” 

“What word?” Castiel tried to look as clueless as possible.  
“You know what word.” 

A cheeky smile played on both their faces. 

“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

“OK, I have a confession. I’ve been doing a little experiment with you.” Castiel explained how his professor had been using the word and how he loved seeing Dean brighten up when he inserted the word into conversation.

“Hmm. Well I’ll forgive you this time, but jeez do I really change my body language and all that crap? I didn’t even notice.” 

“Yes you do.” Cas paused for a moment. “I wonder what other words work like this…”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

“What about… ‘puggle?’”

“I’m not sure that ‘puggle’ is a real word.” Dean’s mouth curved upwards as the two syllables left his mouth. 

“Well sure, but you still smiled so whatever,” Cas said with a playful eye roll. He wrote the word under the phrase “scribble-scrabble,” which had a line through it, impaled after the decision was made that context was needed in order for the word to work.

Dean and Cas were sitting on the couch, pieces of cheap, notebook paper and pens splayed on the coffee table in front of them and they were brainstorming every single word that, as Castiel had said:

“They make someone go and do that sideways-cat-face in their head.”

“What?”

“Here, wait a second, let me draw it.” Castiel drew a giant “:3” emoticon on a piece of paper and handed it to Dean who chuckled at the silly face.

“Is that the new gauge, if I smile at the word, we write it down?” 

“That method sounds great. How about ‘cuddle?’ 

“Cuddle?” Dean tried to look serious, but he smiled ever so slightly when he repeated the word back to Cas.

“Good.” Cas wrote the word Cuddle, beneath the stack of silly words like puggle discussed moments before.

“How about giggle?” Cas was being very analytical and looking Dean right in the eye. For some of these words it wasn’t so much that they were inherently good-feeling words, but they were hilarious when they came from the mouth of his stoic angel. 

“Giggle…” Dean said this word but immediately smiled after catching Cas’s eyes searching for his reaction.

Cas wrote the word.

“How about cutie-patootie?” Cas said, his voice lacking any sort of joking undertones.

“C’mon, that’s not even a real word!” 

“Say it though, we need to test it.”

“Fine.” Dean adjusted his posture, forcing a straight-face. “Cutie-“Dean shut his mouth, swallowing a grin. “Cutie-patootie.”

Cas looked a little impressed.  
“All right, next one.” 

“Can I have a real word this time please?” 

Castiel racked his brain for a cute word he hadn’t said yet. Dean was definitely right to secretly assume Cas was just trying to see what phrases he could force Dean to say.  
“I got one! How about Tickle?” 

Castiel didn’t expect Dean, who had been saying words like “snuggle,” and “bubble,” and “cutie-patootie,” all night with an, un-embarrassed-but-a-bit-amused attitude towards the situation, to turn a bit pink, and quickly look away from Cas’s gaze

Castiel had definitely noticed the change

“Dean, say the word, I want to see if it makes you smile.” 

“Well, I uh, think th-that this word definitely passes the test, I don’t have to employ the method to know.” Dean was blushing.  
“Well this is…amusing. What is it about ‘tickle’ that is embarrassing you?” 

“It’s not embarrassing.” 

“Then say ‘tickle.’ I want to see if you smile at it, please Dean?” 

Dean’s silver tongue was a solid shade of pink at this point. Absolutely no escape.

“This whole experiment is a little embarrassing. You’re pressing all my ‘smiley’ buttons and I don’t know man I just…uh I can only hold my composure for so long?” 

“Try again. You didn’t have a real problem until I said ‘tickle,’ so it’s clearly that word that is bothering you. You can tell me Dean, there’s no reason to be embarrassed. I want to know.”

Cas was being sincere. He was also being smug. It’s very rare that Dean exposes himself like this, and this was at the shear mention of a word, so this was going to be good.

But then there was the fact that Dean was hyper-aware was hyper aware that Cas had said that word four times. He knew this word come up eventually in their relationship, but why did it have to be so damn direct?

“Oh god, Cas I can’t look at you when I say this.” Dean began. 

“Why not?” Cas was confused. Dean wasn’t disgusted by him, right? He tried to not show this concern in his voice. “This is clearly very…emotionally charged. Take your time. Please tell me what’s going on.”

“Well…..” a pregnant pause filled the room. “I like t-t..” Dean sighed in frustration. He genuinely couldn’t will his mouth to speak the word.

“Dean, how about you write what you want to say on the paper.” Dean gripped the pen in his hand and wrote:

“I like tickling.” 

Three words. They were strung together in a way that bound Dean’s tongue. 

Dean turned away from Cas, and when Cas read the confession, it dawned on him: 

Cas had never heard Dean use the word “tickle” or any variation of it in all the time they’d known each other.

“Dean? Look at me, please.” Dean forced his eyes to meet Cas’s own. “Dean this isn’t weird at all. Thank you for telling me this. I’m not sure if I understand why you can’t say the word though? Can you tell me?”

“Well…” Dean’s eyes wondered. “I’m not entirely sure. I know I have a slight…kink or fetish or whatever for, you-know-what.”

“Tickling.”

“Right- and I can’t bring myself to say it because I know I act a little differently and I guess…I guess I feel a little dirty saying the word out loud because I like it so much and it’s so innocent, but I get turned on by it.”

“Oh, Dean that seems completely normal to me. I see nothing wrong with having this as a fetish. Is tickling something you want to try in the future?”  
“Straight to the point, huh?” Dean grinned and rubbed his neck, a nervous tick. “If you’re okay with it, then sure.”

“I am happy to oblige to just about anything you want to try. Do you want to tickle me, or would I be tickling you, if we try it?” Cas was certainly just trying to be straight to the point, but he was of course, relishing the micro-expressions he saw on Dean’s face when he used the word. 

Dean was bright red. Cas was pretending to not see it, so that the conversation would go smoother, but Dean’s tongue was fighting bonds. His mind racing to connect words together which explained exactly what he wanted, but didn’t use the word. 

Dean settled with “I’m okay with either, but I want to be on the receiving end first…if that’s okay.” 

“Okay. Well I have a condition.” 

Dean HOPED he wasn’t going to be asked to say th-

“I want you to ask me to tickle you. It’s not healthy to remove a word from your vocabulary like this. I promise I am happy to do whatever experimental things you want for our sex-lives, but I need you to say the word. There is no reason to be ashamed of this.”

Fuck

Dean took a deep breath, hoping the air would help push the word out. 

“Cas, I want you to t-.” 

“I want you to tic.”

“Cas will you please tic-tick”

Dean breathed in- and then out. 

“Dean, how about you look away from me, that’ll make it easier.”

Dean directed his gaze down at the list. He closed his eyes too, to escape. 

“Cas, will you ti-tickle m-me?” He had successfully stuttered through his request. 

“I would love to try that with you Dean. Would you like to try it now?”

**Author's Note:**

> This scenario is about what I think might happen if I ever tell someone that I have a tickling kink. Also, the part about the professor in the beginning is almost verbatim what happened one day in lab for me irl. I actually have a list of words that I've tested on people and it's harmless fun. If you have a friend, try sneaking "tummy" into a conversation and watch them change their mood because its really fun to do.


End file.
